GUCCI "ARIA"
On the occasion of the house's 100th anniversary, Alessandro Michele, creative director of the brand since 2015, presented the collection “Aria” with a short film made in co-production with Flora Sigismondi, author of numerous music videos by pop artists of the new millennium. Through the digital show, Alessandro Michele has embraced the equestrian heritage of the brand, declining it with a fetish note, borrowed references from the Tom Ford era, and paper patterns from the French brand Balenciaga, since 2015 under the unconventional rigor of Demna Gvsalia. "The past is never an inert delivery and repetition of the immutable: on the contrary, it necessarily implies the idea of movement", explains the designer protagonist of a 'hacking' operation by Balenciaga, a brand of the same group.
““We are therefore ready to celebrate, wearing our most sparkling dresses. Preparations are in full swing. The wait is anxious because after a century we cross the door of the Savoy Club: an imaginative topos in the history of Gucci and a reference to the Hotel Savoy where Guccio Gucci worked before founding his brand. A long corridor separates us from that astral and magical gateway. The foundation myth is re-inhabited in the light of the present. We enter a club, neon lights and cameras, only to discover that the party we are entitled to does not take place in the lobby of a London hotel from the 1920s. Rather, it offers itself as a deep and ecstatic immersion in all that we are sorely lacking today: an air party", writes Alessandro Michele in one of his now famous notes.
94 exits in a slightly psychedelic place, with soundtracks of music containing the word Gucci such as: “Gucci Gang” by Lil Pump, “Gucci Flip Flops” by Bhad Bhabie feat Lil Yatchy and “Gucci Coochie” by Die Antwoord. In the spotlight, perfect Bamboo Bags parade, vivid and very shiny suits, voluminous jackets with feather edging or with false shoulder pads, trousers with jacquard embroidery or multicolored sequins, coats with leather inserts, fluffy fur sleeves and pleated lamé skirts. The jewels, including crystal pendant septums, are precious and extremely glamorous.
However, the twist is determined by a series of items signed by Gucci and Balenciaga. And this is how the iconic Jackie 1961 bag, a true icon of the Maison, comes out branded Balenciaga, as well as a suit of sparkling crystal sequins or a blouson with an equestrian finish. Or vice versa, a Balenciaga look is crossed by Gucci's classic green red green web. Trapezoidal maxi designs, jackets, hoods, leggings, bags studded with crystals, flora prints and logo mania.
The atmosphere then lights up with a glamour to the old Hollywood and with another myth, Marilyn Monroe: the girl who closes the parade «quotes» the evening dress «sunburst» created in 1953 by costume designer Billy Travilla for the actress of «Someone likes it hot». The model has in her hand a clutch in the shape of a beating heart and launches her towards the sky in the second part of the film, when from the corridor and a dark antechamber that Michele assimilates to «a delivery room», the cast goes through a vinyl door that opens onto a fantastic garden populated by rabbits, horses, peacocks. Wind, pollen, flowers, and in a fashionable hymn that looks like a fairy tale, the heads of "Aria" levitate in the air in slow-motion: "A point of arrival and a point of departure" and a hymn "to the generating power of nature, which can heal us if we only let it do".